Sanctions kill 10,295 people in November

BAGHDAD, Dec 19 (South News) - Iraqi health authorities said on Sunday that 10,295 people died in November due to health problems resulting from sanctions imposed by the United Nations, the official Iraqi News Agency reported. The Health Ministry, quoted by INA, said the figure included 7,234 children under the age of five who died of diarrhoea, pneumonia, breathing problems and malnutrition. It said that in November 1989, before the sanctions began, 258 children in that age category had died of the same causes.

The United Nations imposed sanctions against Iraq in August 1990. The ministry said the latest figures brought to nearly 1,215,787 the number of Iraqis who have died of health problems caused by the sanctions over the past nine years.

The United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) said in a report in August that deaths among Iraqi children under five had doubled over the past decade in central and southern areas controlled by the government.